Page 19 - Malaysia by John Russel Denyes

peans now living* in Malaysia this western shore
of the peninsula was infested with fierce Malay
pirates who did not hesitate to attack Chinese and
European ships along the coast. There were no
means of transportation into the interior except
by canoes along the shallow rivers. Today one
can take the railway at Singapore and travel all
the way up the peninsula and across to Bangkok
in Siam, a journey of three days.
All along the railway tens of thousands of acres
of jungle have been cleared to make room for
plantations of cocoanuts and rubber. Great areas
have been dug over and vast fortunes have been
gained from the wonderful beds of tin ore found
in this section. A whole net-work of beautiful
carriage roads spreads itself over this territory,
and cities are springing up everywhere. Through
the government and the mission schools tens of
thousands of boys and girls are being taught to
write and speak the English language, and these
in turn are Ibuilding up a new civilization of Euro-
pean type and Asiatic flavor.

Sumatra Sumatra has a high mountain range
running the full length of the island,
with a short, steep slope to the west and a long,
gentle slope towards the east to the Straits of
Malacca. There is one good harbor at Padang on
the west, one on the north end at Acheen, and two
on the east side. Palembang, in the south center
on the east, is the principal port for the southern
half of the island, and Medan for the northern
half.
Two thousand miles of railways have been sur-
veyed following the east side of the mountain
range throughout the whole length, with the pur-
pose of opening that great fertile plain in the in-
terior, running side lines to the east coast at

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